Brainy men found more appealing to women

By William Atkins
Saturday, 04 October 2008 20:17

Science - Biology

Each man was ranked by the researchers with respect to intelligence based on the IQ test, along with the verbal and physical tasks.

The women watched the videos and then were asked to rate the man’s intelligence, attractiveness, appeal, and creativity with respect to a possible short-term relationship and a potential long-term relationship.

Their findings showed that “both intelligence and creativity independently predicted mate appeal across mating contexts, but no conception-risk effects were detected.”

In other words, women were found to do a pretty good job at selecting intelligent men.

It came to no surprise that women selected smart-perceived men over dumb-perceived men when it came to long-term relationships.

It came as a surprise, though, when women actually selected men with more perceived intelligence for short-term flings. Other studies have shown that women prefer looks over smarts when participating in a one-day stand or other such short-term situations.

However, American evolutionary psychologist Mark Prokosch, now in the Department of Psychology at Elon University (Elon, North Carolina), who led the study, stated, "Women are still going for the hunk. If you had an option to pick from five different people, you would pick the most attractive one." [New Scientist (subscription required): “Nerds rejoice: Braininess boosts likelihood of sex”]

According to this New Scientist article, “However, in a world of limited resources, not every woman gets what she wants, and some are bound to fall for ugly, unintelligent and uncreative men. ‘There's always other people out there that find everything attractive,’ Prokosch says.”

So, there is still hope for men that hang out at the library, in research laboratories, around computer centers, and other nerdy places. Hang in there guys, your intelligence and creativity may soon pay off, either in the short- or long-term.